Code Alert: Florida, 28 September 2009

The State of Florida begins implementation of the 2008 National Electrical Code® (NEC) October 1, 2009 with one amendment to safety.

The effective date for Rule 9B-3.047 which adopts by reference the glitch code changes to the 2007 Florida Building Code as approved by the Florida Building Commission June 9, 2009 including the 2008 National Electrical Code (NEC) is October 1, 2009.

This process began when the Florida Electrical Technical Advisory Committee began the review of the 2008 NEC in the fall of 2008, finally recommending adoption of the 2008 NEC without amendment on February 2, 2009. This recommendation was forwarded to the Florida Building Commission on February 3, 2009 at which time the Florida Building Commission approved moving this process along to a scheduled rule making meeting scheduled for April 7, 2009. At the April 7, 2009 rule making meeting, an amendment sponsored by the Florida Swimming Pool Association was accepted by the Florida Building Commission that deleted GFCI protection for outlets supplying pool pump motors from branch circuits with short-circuit and ground-fault protection rated 15 or 20 amperes, 125 volt or 240 volt, single phase, whether by receptacle or direct connection in one and two family homes. This amendment was not caught by members of the Florida Electrical Technical Advisory Committee or others opposed to this self-serving amendment and therefore went unopposed at the April 7, 2009 Florida Building Commission meeting.

This amendment was challenged at the June 2009 final rule implementation meeting of the Florida Building Commission with the vote to repeal this amendment being 22-6. However as pointed out by legal council to the Commission, a “¾ majority glitch vote” was necessary and that “¾ majority glitch vote” was not achieved. Therefore the 2008 NEC was adopted as the electrical safety installation standard for the State of Florida with an amendment to personnel safety not by a majority of the Florida Building Commission but on a Florida state “glitch vote rule.” The amendment in question is listed as follows in the Florida Building Code.